1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sorter having the sorting function of distributing sheets into a plurality of bins one after another upon receiving the sheets from a copying machine or the like and also having the nonsorting function of delivering such sheets onto a tray.
2 Description of the Prior Art
Various types of sorters have heretofore been proposed for sorting sheets delivered from copying machines as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,944,217, 4,466,608, etc. Such sorters have a plurality of sheet accommodating bins and are adapted to sort sheets within the range of the number of bins.
However, when it is desired to sort sheets beyond the range of the number of bins, the sorting operation within the range of bin number needs to be conducted repeatedly. Further since it is generally not frequently required to sort a large quantity of sheets, it is not economical to install a large sorter having an increased number of sheet accommodating bins for the infrequent use.
To overcome the above problem, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Nos. SHO 59-158763, SHO 59-97963, etc. propose sorting apparatus to which a plurality of sorters can be connected in succession so as to increase the sorting range.
Nevertheless, the sorter requires the path to be specifically used for transporting sheets to the next sorter, so that the sorter unit is complex in construction and costly.